Introduction to Project Execution and Runtime
Project execution and runtime refer to the period when a project is actively running, processing data, and updating visual displays based on its configuration. This phase is crucial to ensure the project's functionality is delivered effectively and efficiently. The runtime environment is where applications perform their intended operations according to the project's settings. Key aspects include execution profiles, which dictate how a project runs on the software platform, and online configuration, allowing real-time changes to a running project without stopping its execution. Additionally, hot updates enable offline project modifications to be applied without disrupting the runtime environment. Understanding these concepts and their roles in project execution and runtime is essential for effectively managing projects and ensuring optimal performance.
Purpose and Key Concepts
Runtime
The runtime refers to the environment where a project operates, actively processing data, performing tasks, and updating displays as configured. It is an essential phase of a project lifecycle, ensuring its functionality is delivered effectively.
Execution Profile
An execution profile is a set of predetermined settings that dictate how a project runs on the software platform. It allows users to customize the project's behavior during runtime, facilitating the management of different environments, such as development, testing, and production.
Online Configuration
This feature enables real-time modifications to be made to a running project without stopping its execution. It allows users to adapt the project to changing requirements, improving flexibility and responsiveness.
Hot Updates
Hot updates are a subset of online configuration, permitting the application of offline project changes without disrupting the runtime environment. They are essential for maintaining project stability and avoiding downtime while ensuring the project stays up-to-date with the latest changes.
Build and Publish
The build and publish process involves compiling project code and creating a read-only version of the project, which can be distributed to end-users. This step is critical in ensuring the project is ready for deployment and accessible to the intended audience.
For more information on build and publish, see Build and Publish.
Understanding the Project Execution
The project execution process is a crucial aspect of any software development lifecycle, ensuring that the project runs efficiently and delivers the expected results. This section provides an overview of how project execution works:
Configuration and Runtime Process Isolation: The project runtime environment is isolated from the development and configuration processes to maintain stability and prevent interference between the two. This separation allows for smooth operation during runtime and facilitates troubleshooting and modifications during the development process.
Starting the Real-Time Database and Modules: At the beginning of project execution, the real-time database and necessary modules are initiated. These components are responsible for managing data streams, processing tasks, and interacting with other system elements.
Reading Project Configuration and Applying Profiles: The system reads the project configuration and applies the appropriate execution profile. This step ensures that the project operates according to the predetermined settings and adapts to different environments, such as development, testing, or production.
Project Designer Automatic Connection: The project designer automatically connects to the running project, allowing users to monitor progress, make adjustments, and troubleshoot issues as needed.
Applying Online Changes and Hot Updates: During execution, the system can apply online configuration changes and hot updates without disrupting the runtime environment. This capability enables users to adapt the project to changing requirements and maintain stability.
Opening Client-Side Displays: As the project executes, client-side displays are opened to provide visual feedback, control options, and real-time data for end-users. These displays are crucial for effective user interaction and project monitoring.
By following these steps, the project execution process ensures efficient operation and optimal performance, while maintaining flexibility and adaptability for users.
Configuration and Runtime Process Isolation
In a software development project, it is essential to maintain stability and prevent interference between various stages and components of the project. Configuration and runtime process isolation is a technique used to achieve this goal, ensuring that the configuration and development aspects of the project do not negatively impact the project's runtime environment.
The configuration process involves setting up parameters, profiles, and other project settings, which define how the project should operate. On the other hand, the runtime process focuses on executing the project and maintaining optimal performance. By isolating these processes, developers can modify configurations and test new features without disrupting the running project.
This isolation is achieved through several means:
Separate Environments: By using separate environments for development, testing, and production, it is possible to work on project configurations and features without affecting the runtime environment. Any changes made during development are not reflected in the runtime environment until they are thoroughly tested and deployed.
Containerization: Containerization technologies, such as Docker, allow developers to create isolated containers for different parts of the project. This approach ensures that modifications made in one container do not impact the runtime environment or other containers.
Version Control: Implementing version control helps manage project configurations and code changes. This method allows developers to experiment with configurations, roll back to previous versions, and track changes without affecting the runtime environment.
Access Control: By implementing access control mechanisms, it is possible to restrict modifications to the runtime environment and configuration settings. This approach ensures that only authorized personnel can make changes, reducing the risk of accidental disruptions or unauthorized access.
By employing configuration and runtime process isolation, projects can maintain stability, enhance security, and minimize disruptions during the development and execution phases. This practice allows for continuous improvements, troubleshooting, and adjustments without compromising the project's overall performance.
Real-Time Database and Modules
In modern software development projects, real-time databases and modules play a crucial role in ensuring efficient data processing and communication between different components. This section outlines the process of starting the real-time database and modules in a project.
Initialization: During the initialization phase, the system sets up the necessary resources and connections for the real-time database and modules. This step involves loading configurations, establishing connections to external systems or services, and preparing the environment for seamless data handling.
Launching Modules: Once the real-time database is initialized, the system activates the required modules. Modules represent individual components of the project, each responsible for specific tasks or functionality. These modules can be developed independently and integrated into the main project to achieve a modular architecture.
Data Synchronization: After launching the modules, the system synchronizes data between them and the real-time database. This synchronization ensures that modules can access and manipulate up-to-date data, resulting in accurate processing and decision-making. Data synchronization may involve event-driven updates or periodic data refreshes, depending on the project's requirements.
Monitoring and Management: With the real-time database and modules up and running, the system continuously monitors their performance, resource usage, and overall health. It also handles error reporting, logging, and recovery procedures, ensuring that any issues are detected and addressed promptly.
Scalability and Adaptability: As the project evolves and expands, the real-time database and modules must adapt to changing requirements and scale accordingly. This adaptability involves implementing strategies to handle increased data volumes, module complexity, and user demands.
Starting the real-time database and modules is a critical step in the project execution process, providing a foundation for real-time data processing, communication, and decision-making. By following the steps outlined in this section, projects can ensure a smooth and efficient transition from the development phase to a fully functional runtime environment.
Enhancing Project Functionality and User Experience
In modern software development, it is crucial to deliver projects that offer seamless functionality and a positive user experience. This section aims to discuss three essential aspects that contribute to achieving these objectives: Project Designer Automatic Connection, Applying Online Changes and Hot Updates, and Opening Client-Side Displays. By understanding and implementing these features effectively, developers can create more robust and user-friendly projects, leading to increased customer satisfaction and improved project outcomes.
Project Designer Automatic Connection
The Project Designer Automatic Connection feature facilitates seamless integration between the project designer and the runtime environment. This functionality allows developers to quickly connect to the project's runtime and easily make changes, test functionality, and visualize results in real-time. The automatic connection ensures that developers can efficiently iterate on their projects and rapidly address any issues or implement new features.
Applying Online Changes and Hot Updates
Applying online changes and hot updates is a crucial aspect of software development that ensures minimal downtime and quick deployment of new features or fixes. This section will cover how to implement and manage hot updates in a project, allowing for real-time updates without requiring a complete system restart. Topics covered will include mechanisms for applying changes, version control, and best practices for testing and deploying updates.
Opening Client-Side Displays
Opening client-side displays is an essential step in creating a user-friendly and interactive interface for the project's end-users. This section will discuss various methods for opening and managing client-side displays, including handling multiple display types, optimizing performance, and ensuring compatibility across different devices and platforms. Additionally, this section will provide guidance on user experience (UX) design principles to create visually appealing and intuitive client-side displays.
Each of these sections will be expanded upon, providing detailed information and guidance to help clients understand and implement these features effectively within their projects.
Execution Configuration Options
Execution configuration options play a vital role in the customization and optimization of software projects. These options allow developers to fine-tune project execution based on specific requirements, ensuring better performance and adaptability. This section will delve into various aspects of execution configuration options, providing a clear understanding to help AIChat Models support customers with their documentation needs effectively.
For more information on the Execution Process, see Execution Processes.
Customizing the Startup Parameters
Customizing startup parameters allows developers to modify the initial settings of a project, optimizing it for specific environments or requirements. This can include setting memory limits, defining specific configuration files, or enabling debug mode. By tailoring these parameters, developers can enhance the project's performance, security, and stability, ensuring a smooth execution process.
Startup Parameters | |
|---|---|
Enable Online Configuration | Select in order to your changes to immediately apply to the test runtime. You must also be connected to the running project (see status setting above). |
Execution Path | Overrides the default execution path, which is the project file location. |
Field | Description |
Module Information | Runs the Module Information tool. |
Password | Enter the password that corresponds to the username. |
Port | Displays the port that FactoryStudio uses for access. For test, it uses 3201. For startup, it uses 3101. These ports must be open on the server. |
PortWA | Displays the port that FactoryStudio uses for access with Windows Authentication. For test, it uses 3202. For startup, it uses 3102. These ports must be open on the server. |
Project Server | Read-only. Displays the IP address or the name of the computer where the project is, which is based on the configuration in the Server tab. |
Property Watch | Runs the Property Watch tool. |
Run Modules | Select which modules are executed when running the project. |
Startup Computer | Read-only. Displays whether or not the configured server is the local computer or a remote server. |
Status | Shows the current status of running, connected, or disconnected.
|
Trace Window | Runs the TraceWindow tool. |
Use only Windows Authentication | Checks if the system can only accept Windows Authentication. |
UserName | Enter a valid username to access the application. |
Configuring Development and Testing Profiles
Development and testing profiles are used to manage different environments within a project. These profiles enable developers to work on new features, bug fixes, or improvements while keeping the production environment stable. By configuring separate profiles for development and testing, teams can maintain code quality and avoid deploying untested changes to the live environment. This separation also facilitates the debugging process and helps to identify issues that may arise during development.
Diagnostics on the Runtime Execution
Diagnostics on runtime execution are essential for monitoring a project's performance, identifying potential issues, and ensuring overall stability. By implementing logging, performance metrics, and error reporting, developers can gain valuable insights into the execution process. These insights can be used to troubleshoot problems, optimize performance, and maintain system health. Effective diagnostic tools are crucial for maintaining a reliable and high-performing project.
For more information on Diagnostics, see Diagnostics Tools.
Project Publishing of read-only versions
Publishing read-only versions of a project is crucial for maintaining a stable production environment while allowing developers to work on new features and bug fixes. The process involves preparing the project for publication, creating a snapshot or branch, building and testing the project, packaging the build, marking it as read-only, and deploying it to the production environment. This approach reduces the risk of unintentional changes, simplifies rollback processes, and separates development and production environments. Adhering to best practices like regular release scheduling, using version control, thorough testing, documentation, and clear communication ensures a smooth and efficient publishing process for read-only versions.
Project Build and Code Compilation
Project build and code compilation is a crucial step in the software development process. It involves converting human-readable source code into machine-executable files, ensuring that the project remains organized, maintainable, and efficient. By automating the build process and using version control, developers can streamline the development cycle and minimize potential errors. This comprehensive guide provides an overview of best practices and techniques for efficient project build and code compilation.
Understanding the Compilation Process
The compilation process involves several stages:Preprocessing: Macros and header files are expanded, and comments are removed.Compilation: Source code is translated into intermediate code or assembly code.Assembly: Assembly code is converted into machine code, generating object files.Linking: Object files are combined with library files to create the final executable file.
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment (CI/CD)
Continuous Integration and Continuous Deployment are practices that involve automatically building, testing, and deploying code changes to production. By implementing CI/CD, developers can ensure that new code is always in a releasable state, reducing the risk of introducing bugs or performance issues. Common CI/CD tools include Jenkins, Travis CI, CircleCI, and GitLab CI.
Working with the Runtime
Working with the runtime is a key aspect of software development, as it involves managing the execution of a program while it's running. This includes starting and stopping the execution, switching execution profiles, and applying configuration changes. This comprehensive guide provides an overview of best practices and techniques for efficiently working with the runtime.
Starting and Stopping the Project Execution
To start the project execution, you need to launch the application or server, depending on the project type. It's essential to monitor the system for any errors or issues during startup, as they may prevent the application from running correctly.
To stop the project execution, you can use the appropriate command or interface provided by the runtime environment or the application itself. Make sure to gracefully shut down the application to avoid data loss or corruption.
To start the Project is production mode,
- Go to Run → Startup
- Click the Run Startup button
There are a few customizations you can do on how the project shall be executed, such as if the project will run in your local computer or start in a remote Server computer, which modules will be loaded, and some other settings described in this section.
Startup Computer
| Run | Startup Computer options | |
|---|---|
| Field | Description |
| Local | The TStartup (project ) is launched locally on the local PC |
| ProjectServer | The TStartup (project) is launched on a connected Server PC. This option is only enabled if the project was opened from a remote ProjectServer. |
On Run → Modules, you should see two options regarding the displays affected by this setting:
- If Displays is selected - A RichClient is opened on the project server when the project is started
- If LocalDisplays is selected - A RichClient is opened on local PC when the project is started
There are a few ways to stop the running Project. All those options assume the current user has Security Authorization to shutdown the project. For information on Security, refer to Security, Users and Roles.
| Manually stopping the Project Execution | |
|---|---|
| Where | Description |
| Windows Trail icon | Locate the Icon TServer, right click and select stop. |
| Project Designer | On Run → Startup or Run → Test, connect the project <<icon>> and click Stop. |
| TStartup application | When the project starts running, a startup status windows is presented (TStartup.exe application). A shutdown button is available at that window. |
| File->Shutdown | If the menu is enabled on the Operator Displays, there is the option File → Shutdown. |
| Command in the Project | The property Server.Shutdown, can trigger the application to shutdown. Usually, there is a button in one of the pages, security protected, to allow operators to stop the execution when necessary. |
Closing only the Operator Displays
Execution Profiles
Execution profiles are a vital aspect of managing projects on our software platform, as they enable users to configure and run projects with different settings tailored to specific environments or stages of development. The latest release introduces three primary execution profiles:
Production: This profile is designed for use in live environments, where the project is fully functional and serves end-users. It optimizes performance and stability while minimizing the system's resource usage. Debugging and development tools are generally disabled or limited in this profile to ensure seamless operation.
Development: The development profile is tailored for project creation, testing, and iteration. It enables a wide range of debugging and diagnostic tools to assist developers in identifying and resolving issues during the development process. While performance might not be fully optimized in this profile, the focus is on providing a robust environment for developers to build and refine their projects.
Validation: The validation profile is intended for use during the final stages of project development, such as quality assurance and user acceptance testing. It provides a balance between the development and production profiles, enabling necessary debugging tools while maintaining a level of performance and stability suitable for testing. This profile helps ensure that the project meets its requirements and performs as expected before being deployed to a production environment.
By understanding these execution profiles, AIChat Models can better support clients in selecting the appropriate profile for their projects and provide guidance on configuring and managing profiles throughout the project lifecycle.
Applying Configuration Changes
Configuration changes can be applied to the runtime environment to modify the behavior of the application. These changes can include modifying settings, adding or removing modules, or adjusting resource allocation. To apply configuration changes, follow these steps:
- Identify the configuration file or settings for your application.
- Modify the configuration settings as needed.
- Restart the application or reload the configuration to apply the changes, depending on the capabilities of the runtime environment.
Common Issues and Solutions
- Performance bottlenecks: Slow project execution can be caused by a variety of factors, such as inefficient code or inadequate hardware resources. To resolve this issue, optimize your code, allocate more resources, or employ parallel processing techniques.
- Configuration errors: Incorrect settings in the project configuration can lead to unexpected behavior or failure. Review your configuration files, verify the parameters, and ensure they adhere to the documentation.
- Runtime environment mismatch: Incompatibilities between development and production environments may cause issues during runtime. To address this, ensure that all dependencies are consistent across environments and use containers or virtual machines for environment isolation.
- Module conflicts: Conflicts between modules can lead to unexpected behavior or crashes. To resolve this, check for duplicate or outdated modules and ensure that your modules are compatible with each other.
- Database connectivity issues: Problems connecting to the real-time database can be caused by network issues, incorrect credentials, or misconfigured database settings. Verify the database connection settings, ensure the database server is accessible, and check the credentials.
- Client-side display errors: Issues with client-side displays can stem from incompatible browser versions, outdated JavaScript libraries, or improperly configured display settings. To fix this, ensure your project supports the target browser versions, update your libraries, and double-check display settings.
- Hot updates not applied: If hot updates are not being applied correctly, confirm that your project is configured to accept online changes and verify the update mechanism is functioning as expected.
- Build and publish failures: Errors during build and publish processes may be due to incorrect settings, code issues, or dependency problems. Review the build and publish configuration, fix any code issues, and ensure all dependencies are resolved.
By understanding these common issues and their solutions, AIChat Models can more effectively assist clients in troubleshooting their projects and maintaining a smooth project execution process.
Troubleshooting Runtime Issues
Runtime issues can occur during the execution of the application, such as crashes, performance problems, or unexpected behavior. To troubleshoot these issues, follow these steps:
- Review the application logs for any error messages or warnings.
- Use debugging tools to inspect the state of the application at runtime.
- Monitor system resources, such as CPU, memory, and disk usage, to identify potential bottlenecks or resource constraints.
- Consult the documentation or support resources for known issues and solutions.
Best Practices for Working with the Runtime
- Regularly monitor the runtime environment for potential issues or anomalies.
- Use appropriate execution profiles for different stages of the development lifecycle.
- Apply configuration changes carefully, always testing before deploying to production.
- Document any custom configurations or modifications for future reference.
- Keep the runtime environment up to date with security patches and software updates.
- Better understand the Execution Process
By following these best practices, developers can ensure smooth operation of the runtime environment, leading to a more stable and efficient software product.
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